Knol vs. Wikipedia (#2)

Continuing the comparison between the two, here is a small test I ran today. After seeing huge differences between Knol's reaction to 'Genesis' (which apart from the rock band, is just the first bible book... ;-) and Wikipedia's massive information regarding the subject, I wanted to see how they deal with a subject such as 'Israel'.

I chose Israel, first because it is a country (my country) and should be well known by both giants. Secondly - it is an interesting subject because of its subjectivity. One of the problems in Wikipedia is that it should be impartial. A subject such as Israel is could create many conflicts between different people with different opinions and someone must decide how the article about such a subject will turn out, objectively as possible. In Knol, there is no problem with such a subject, since the entries are credited and you can judge an entry looking at its author.

The results:

In Wikipedia, the article about Israel has a lot of information, most of it hard facts. The article was edited and modified several times (you can see the evolution in the "discussion" page).

In Knol I found not less than 4 entries named Israel, and we are talking about a website that has just became public. This, I think, is one of the drawbacks of Knol. Since it is credited and one cannot edit an entry of another, you can simply add your own entry of the same subject, making it difficult to read everything and get the "true story". How many entries named Israel do you think are going to be in a few months - I guess a lot. Secondly - at least two of the entries were exactly the same - both copied from the article in Wikipedia. Well - that was predictable. Again his is somewhat problematic - anyone can take credit of an entry he copied from somewhere else, and even gain some profit from it by adding some ads. Doesn't sound so good, does it?

Summary:

Well, in this test Wikipedia took 1st place. I don't see how duplicated entries are better than the source, and come to think of it - who guarantees that a modification in the Israel article in Wikipedia will find it's rightful place in Knol?

1:0 to Wiki, still counting.